


Pixie Cut

by Puffinpastry



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: DQXI Rarepair Jam, Dragon Quest XI Act III Spoilers, Dramatic Haircuts, F/M, Fluff, Hero | Luminary is Named Eleven | El (Dragon Quest XI), Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26543626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puffinpastry/pseuds/Puffinpastry
Summary: “I’ve wondered why you haven’t cut your hair.”
Relationships: Hero | Luminary/Sena | Serena (Dragon Quest XI)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Pixie Cut

**Author's Note:**

> You might recognize some of this from a snip I posted on tumblr ages ago. The project was abandoned but when looking through my wips the other day I found this and thought... hm. Litl bit shippy. 
> 
> Little bit of rewriting and here it is!  
> Also really enjoyed writing from Serena’s POV..

Serena loved her hometown. She loved how quiet it was. How peaceful. 

Carefully closing the door to her family home, she took off for a walk. She needed to think, to clear her head, and she couldn’t do that at home right now. Not with Veronica fuming.

That, and she didn’t know how to feel about seeing Veronica now.

She didn’t know how to feel about very much at all now, come to think of it.

Eleven had told them the whole sorry tale, and while she was still fuzzy on most of the details, she got the gist of it. And that was all they really needed. The details… Well, to be frank, she didn’t want them. 

They’d failed, the world had ended, people had died.  _ Veronica _ had died.

Serena hadn’t given herself the leeway to really wrap her head around that. She didn’t have the time. Didn’t have the heart.

She’d have to, someday. But that was a problem for the future.

Eleven had found a chance to fix it. 

And he did.

That’s all that should matter. 

Serena took the steps by the inn. A cool breeze made the leaves whistle in the trees, and it brought the scent of fresh fruit from one of the storefronts. Arboria was a town much different than most others. It was always nice. The days were always pleasantly warm, and the nights were perfectly cool. The seasons didn’t touch their tiny piece of Erdrea. Perhaps it was because of their proximity to Yggdrasil.

Idyllic in every way. 

Perfect.

An easy exterior that hid what the town was really like.

Warm and nice and kind. Holy and pious and faithful… Strict and harsh and spartan. 

Serena loved her hometown.

The path to the grove was in sight now.

It was her favorite place in the entire world. She felt safe saying that, since she’d seen practically the entire world now.

But knowing what she knows now, it nearly feels fake.

Like a set for a play, everything just painted on.

Serena wondered if this is how the others felt.

After Eleven’s explanation, they’d gone their separate ways. Just for the night.

They still had a job to do.

That was just their lot in life. Born with a destiny. A job to do.

No matter their own wishes.

Jade was a princess. Destined to take the crown. Erik and Sylvando wanderers, but still as important to their quest as any other. Hendrik a knight born to serve the Luminary… And herself and Veronica… 

Just the same as the Luminary himself, in a way. 

Born to protect not the world… But to keep him alive at any cost.

Neither Serena nor Veronica has truly come to understand what that meant. Not until now.

And for the first time…

Serena came to grasp it. 

They called her flighty. Head in the clouds, lost all too easily in fiction of her own making. 

Serena had never seen the trouble in it.

But with her head in the clouds…

Serena loved her hometown.

Didn’t see what was wrong.

Not until it was just a little too late. 

Her thoughts continued to wander to and from Eleven and everything he said as she walked. The warm glow of the town faded as she drew further away, but the light of the moon kept the grove lit in silver.

It made it all the easier to see Eleven, standing below the tallest tree in the area.

He had one hand resting on the rough bark of the tree trunk, but he was looking away from it, off into the sky. 

Erdwin’s lantern was long gone now, and it had left an empty spot in the sky.

Empty of the evil they had defeated.

But also devoid of stars.

Of life.

The wind picked up again, the leaves rustled, and Eleven’s hair got caught up in it as well.

She’d noticed how long it had gotten. 

When the wind died down it returned to where it sat before, untouched, untangled, and just as perfect as it normally was, ending just at his shoulder blades.

One day she’d ask him what he did to make it so pretty and manageable.

A twig snapped beneath her feet, and Eleven turned his head to look at her.

He made no move, and said nothing.

So, Serena smiled, and walked up to stand beside him.

“It’s a nice night.” She told him. Nice to be out in. Less so of what he’d explained. Taking until yet another grand threat to their world to confess. 

Eleven only nodded.

He’d been so quiet when they first met. Speaking in half sentences if he spoke at all. Eventually he got to a point where he spoke freely and easily to everyone, but right now, she may as well be talking to that old Eleven. Shy and timid, unable to say no to even the most trivial of requests. 

“This is my favorite place in the whole town.” Serena told him, “When Veronica and I were little, or, when we were  _ both _ little, we used to come here to play all day.”

“I know.” Eleven said, his voice just hardly above a whisper. “You told me that, once.”

“When?”

Eleven shook his head. “Another time. The other time.”

Ah.

“I don’t know why I came here.” Eleven said, “I don’t know why I told you all. I’m sorry. I never wanted to burden you with this. Any of you.”

Serena stayed quiet, giving him room to continue if he wished.

“I came back to fix everything. And I did. I don’t know why it bothers me so much. It never happened, none of it ever happened.”

Serena lifted a hand, hesitated a moment, and instead just let her head come to rest on his shoulder as she pondered what he said. Touch was always a comfort for her. Veronica there to hug her until all the tears were gone, and Veronica always had her to hold her hand to keep the anger from getting the best of her.

But Eleven didn’t have a Veronica to see him through his sadness. 

But perhaps… He had her.

“It may not have happened for us, but it did for you. We in Arboria have a custom.” Serena began, “if we lose someone close to us, we cut our hair. Just a little if we didn’t know them well, but sometimes we cut all of it off if we loved them very much.”

“I know.” He said.

Serena knew. He must’ve, if he’d been here for Veronica’s funeral. But that was besides her point. She wasn’t explaining the custom. She was reminding him of it.

“I’ve wondered why you haven’t cut your hair.”

He turned to look at her. “No one has died.”

“Maybe not today, but you still lost people. Even if we’re still here, we aren’t the same as those you lost. You lost an entire future, El. It’s okay to grieve for it.”

Eleven was quiet for a moment. “You cut off all your hair when Veronica died. I was with you when you did it.”

Of course she did. Losing Veronica… it couldn’t have been like anything other than losing half of her soul. 

“I bet I looked silly.”

Eleven made a sound that was almost a laugh. “No. It actually suited you very well.” The small smile he had disappeared. “But.. you’re right. If you don’t mind, could you stay here, just a few minutes?”

“Of course.”

In one hand, Eleven gathered his hair, and with the other, brought up a knife. Not anything as sharp or as decorated as the weapons he forged for them all. But something meant for cooking.

If he had it with him this whole time… This wasn’t an idea Serena planted in his mind. But perhaps one she gave him the courage to follow through with.

He didn’t cut it down to the root, but still a significant amount of hair fell down over the roots of the tree. And when Eleven let go of what remained of his hair, it was choppy and uneven, in desperate need of a skilled pair of hands and a pair of scissors… But it didn’t fall to his chin as it did when she first met him, or even to his ears.

“Does that feel better?” Serena asked, pushing away thoughts about how it only made his face look  _ younger.  _ Baby-faced Luminary. 

He nodded, fingers combing through what little was left. “Thank you. For staying with me.” 

“Of course. It’s what you did for me, wasn’t it?”

he paused for a moment. “Yes.

I did.” His hands in his hair again, unused to the weightlessness. “I think… I think yours looked better, though.” 

He was smiling sheepishly, with just a little bit of terror. Serena wondered if she’d felt that, after giving herself the same split-second haircut. 

She probably did, going her entire life keeping it long and straight. But no going back now. 

For either of them. 

“Come on, let’s get that mess fixed up.” Serena offered out a hand. The next few days would be difficult on them all, but none more so than Eleven. He needed support, needed kindness. And if there was one thing Serena had never doubted herself in, it was her ability to provide that. “It sounds as though I might actually have a knack for this.”

Serena didn’t hate her hometown. She didn’t hate having grown up here, she didn’t dislike the memories she had. 

El took her hand, and she began to lead him out of the grove.

Maybe… She had spoken too soon. 

She had been around the entire world now, but perhaps she hadn’t given it enough time to really decide. 

Whatever it was they were up against next…

Surely there would be some time for another bout of sightseeing.

And maybe this time… 

Eleven hadn’t stopped traveling after their journey ended.

Likely would stop after this one, either.

It must get lonely on the road.

Maybe… 

The breeze picked up, and her hair was caught up in it. Short hair didn’t sound so unappealing. 

Just maybe, she’d cut her own.

And just maybe… Eleven wouldn’t mind if she tagged along.

**Author's Note:**

> There just might be a continuation of this somewhere down the road.


End file.
